Alpine Canada Alpin (ACA) aims to ensure that any child entering the alpine ski racing system is provided with the necessary building blocks to reach the highest level of achievement in our sport.
The LTAD (long term athlete development), formerly referred to as the AIM 2 WIN guide, was developed by Alpine Canada as a long-term skier development plan for coaches, managers, administrators, parents, teachers and volunteers. The plan breaks down development into seven stages and provides training strategies and progressions for future elite athletes. The LTAD should be used by all clubs across the country as a pathway to success for young skiers.
As part of the revisions to the organization’s Long-Term Athlete Development Pathway, Alpine Canada has created a stand-alone LTAD web site that provides a one-stop resource for all aspects of athlete development – from recreational racers to those working towards national team goals.
ltad.alpinecanada.org
“Alpine Canada’s LTAD 3.0 provides all of our grassroots stakeholders a clear pathway for athlete development, supported by the latest in sport science,” said Jenni Stielow, Senior Manager Coach Education and LTAD Project Lead. “The tool is aimed at everyone from parents, coaches, volunteers, officials and administrators at the club and provincial levels to prospective ski racing participants.”
“The new ACA LTAD 3.0 takes into account the multiple pathways our athletes will follow during their career including the recreational and sport-for-life and the high-performance, national team streams,” said Stielow. “We have leveraged input from experts in every field as well as real-life experiences of athletes and coaches from the national team to club and provincial ski racing.”
The website includes distinct engagement points for athletes, parents and coaches while providing visually engaging resources for all key stakeholders. In addition to outlining on-snow guidelines for every stage of a ski racer’s development, the site also offers essential off-snow training guidelines for every stage, and resources for balancing education and athletics, as well as nutrition and mental strategies.
The new ACA LTAD 3.0 is not only an alpine ski racing resource. It includes specifications for ski cross and para-alpine racers throughout the development stages.
The LTAD site will continue to evolve and be a long-term, ongoing resource for Canada’s ski racing community moving forward.
UPDATED JUNE 2019